Google’s latest AI image model, Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, better known as “Nano Banana” has become a viral sensation in India, fueling the Gemini app’s rise to the No. 1 spot on both the App Store and Google Play.
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India is currently the top country worldwide for Nano Banana use, according to David Sharon, multimodal generation lead at Google DeepMind. And while adoption isn’t surprising given India’s massive smartphone user base, what is surprising is how Indians are using it.
Some of the hottest trends include:
- Retro Bollywood Looks: Users reimagining themselves in 90s-style portraits, complete with vintage outfits and hairstyles.
- The “AI Saree” Trend: AI-generated traditional portraits with a nostalgic, vintage twist.
- Iconic Backdrops: Selfies placed in front of Big Ben, London’s red phone booths, and other global landmarks.
- AI Time Travel: Users creating futuristic, black-and-white, or even postage-stamp versions of themselves.
India also helped push the “figurine trend” tiny AI-made versions of people posed in everyday scenes, from Thailand and Indonesia to global popularity.
The Gemini app has seen 15.2 million downloads in India this year, compared to 9.8 million in the U.S., with installs spiking 667% after Nano Banana’s September 1 launch. On September 13 alone, India recorded 414,000 downloads in a single day.
But the boom comes with privacy concerns. Users are uploading personal photos, sparking questions about safety. Google says it’s tackling this with visible watermarks, hidden SynthID tags for AI detection, and upcoming tools that let anyone check if an image is AI-generated.
“This is still day one,” Sharon said. “We’re learning together.”
